There are two exquisite scenes in The BFG.
The first scene is a visual wonder: a tree on a lake standing tall before the Sophie and her Big Friendly Giant. Reflected beneath the water is the same tree with dancing light and colors. Though it’s not clear at first just what we’re looking at, it’s the kind of imaginative cinematic moment that Steven Spielberg and his photographer Janusz Kaminski have been capturing for decades. Magical and otherworldly.
The second scene is mostly farting. The prim and proper English royalty all farting uncontrollably. Facile humor, yes, but absolutely hysterical in its execution. Some of the best on-screen farting you’ll find this year, I’d wager.
As for the rest of The BFG, there is not much to report. Which I must say is a surprise. My expectations for a Spielberg directed family - film starring an adorable child actor are pretty high, it seems. Spielberg’s work with child actors has been among the highest quality in Hollywood. Ruby Barnhill, who plays Sophie in The BFG, belongs in the canon of Spielberg’s Kids. But the movie that surrounds her fails to live up to her peers. Barnhill carries entire scenes on her tiny shoulders, but the giants can’t match her enthusiasm or emotional commitment.
Instead, Mark Rylance and the other giants live docile boring lives. Sleeping, hunting, picking on the little giant. What should be a wild adventure ends up flat in execution.
Still, there are worse ways to spend an hour and half than watching a decent, forgettable film with convincing giants, funny and scary in equal measure. That Dahl’s story lacks a cinematic and is devoid of dramatic tension is just part of the book. Which means the movie is kind of boring. But kids’ll like the BFG himself, an no kid can resist farts this funny.
More interesting than The BFG is the fact that Spielberg made this movie. The film contributes to a notable trend in the 69-year old director’s career. Spielberg has always had a kid-like nostalgia in his work: Indiana Jones is a throwback to the 1930s serials; his early sci-fi looking back to the early ’50s and earlier. But if we look at the 5-year plan for Spielberg, we see a much more direct path from Spielberg to personal revelry: The BFG, an adaptation of Ernest Cline’s video game nostalgia novel Ready Player One, Indiana Jones 5 and a re-make of the 1961 Best Picture winning musical West Side Story.
That stretch will would indicate that Spielberg is, like the rest of America, succumbing to inner nostalgic longings. If Indiana Jones was a rearview fantasy in the first place, thirty years later an Indy picture is nothing but 80s throwback.
Spielberg is not alone in pumping the nostalgia machine. Which is of course Spielberg’s right. Of late the progress of the world has provided numerous reasons to long for glowing revelries of the past. Still, I find it a little depressing to see one of Hollywood’s best directors turning to the well of feel-good remakes and adaptations.
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